Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Cooper and Mr. Muise, for joining us.
Mr. Cooper, this is the first opportunity I have had to hear you testify about a proposed piece of federal legislation. Thank you.
I quite liked the comparison that you drew. You stated that since leaving the police force, your income has declined. There's a saying in Quebec that if you want to demote a police officer, from a salary standpoint, you give him a job as a Crown attorney.
Mr. Cooper, I'd like to hear your views on something that's very important to me. Like Mr. Muise, you said that you read the bill yesterday. In your opinion, will Bill C-2, as tabled by the government, resolve—and I use the word cautiously—the problem of violence against women?
In Quebec, as in your home province and elsewhere in Canada, there have been many reported cases of repeated violence against women. In the past, there was no possibility of declaring the perpetrator a dangerous offender or some such thing, and after a while, he would end up killing his spouse. Two or three famous cases come to mind, including one in your province. Can this bill help us to resolve this very real problem in both of our provinces?
Elsewhere, Mr. Cooper, do you also believe that this bill will help to address the problem of child abuse? I'm thinking here about abuse of a sexual nature, among other things. Sexual predators manage to slip through the cracks and at some point, they must be caught.
Since you have read the bill and since you may be required to work within its parameters, do you believe that it will help to address these two major problems, namely violence against women and child abuse?